Minnesota Sod Care
Everything you need to know about how to care for your sod
Clark Companies of MN is your trusted local expert in sod care and lawn installation across Minnesota. We specialize in local professional sod installation, repair, and maintenance, ensuring your lawn stays lush, green, and healthy through every Minnesota season. Whether you're replacing a damaged yard, starting fresh, or maintaining commercial turf, we use region-specific grasses and proven methods to deliver long-lasting results. Serving the Twin Cities and surrounding areas, we offer prompt, reliable, and eco-friendly sod care tailored to Minnesota’s unique climate.
Watering Info
Watering Your New Sod (First 3 weeks)
Water your new sod everyday for the first three weeks. Your sod is like a wet sponge. It is moist when it's laid down and if it's not watered immediately, the sod will shrink and will not return to its original size when finally watered and will show cracks between each roll. When you water everyday it takes less water to keep the sod moist.
Water long enough that when you lift up the sod, the water has penetrated through the sod and has saturated the ground underneath. This test can be done for the first few days to determine how long to run your sprinklers. -OR- Set a rain gauge or small container (cat food size can or similar) out by the sprinkler and when it's filled with 1" of water, move your sprinkler to a new area. If you use a pulsating sprinkler it should take approximately 45 minutes. If you have an osciliating sprinkler you will need to water the area longer, about 1 hour.
If you have a sprinkler system, set each zone for approximately 45 minutes. Also, remember to be sure that the areas being watered over-lap, otherwise you will get an area where your sod will dry up and die. If it rains, consider that a day of watering.** Watering An Established Lawn After 3-4 weeks your sod should be well rooted. In other words, your sod roots have gone down into your soil and have taken hold. You can then set your sprinkler zones for about 20 minutes each.
As a rule of thumb, your lawn needs 1.5" of water per week. It is best to water your lawn in the early morning starting at around 4:00 am and to avoid watering during the hot times of the day (10:00 am - 2:00 pm). Your soil makes a difference in watering, clay soil is the best for holding moisture in, and sand is the worst. If you have sandy soil you may need to water a little longer. But remember during the hot dry days of July and August. WATER & WATER.
Other tips
Foot traffic: We would recommend avoiding heavy foot traffic on the new sod/seed for the first 4-5 weeks, if you need to walk on it or need to move the sprinkler, we suggest just being careful if this is needed.
Mowing: We say to hold off on mowing for 1.5-2.5 weeks after installation. When mowing for the first time, mow with the mower deck at its highest position, so it does not take a lot off the grass. Then slowly start to lower the blade height till you reach your normal mowing depth. Removing too much of the blades stresses the newly planted lawn. When mowing, the soil should be dry enough so that ruts do not form by the wheels of the lawnmower.
Weed killers: Grass seedlings are very sensitive to chemical injury, meaning broadleaf herbicides (weed killers) should not be applied until the lawn has fully taken and has been mowed at least four to five times but should not be needed.
Fertilization: Sod comes grown with fertilization at the sod farm, so should not need any starter fertilizers.